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1974-77: punk in the UK

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starts with one guy: Malcolm McLaren

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background

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the UK in the 70s

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troubling financial economy

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the US had the same problems

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but most middle class kids in the US had enough

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but in the UK a feeling of despair that they would never be able to move out of where they were

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a sense of why bother, no hope

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punk music is often associated with a cultural expression of this despair

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in the US, punk was not so much economically focused as in the UK

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Malcolm McLaren (1946-2010)

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a haberdasher

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owned his own shop, managed it on the King's Row

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a poke-a-stick-in-your-eye kind of guy

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his store: Let It Rock

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later changed its name to: "Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die"

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sold biker jackets, leather-ware

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sold these next to stores that had the elegant men's wear

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wanted to make a bigger splash in the world

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he saw the New York Dolls on television in England

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supplied the red letter outfits they wore

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1974 they were on the verge of breaking up

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some in group addicted to drugs

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others in group addicted to alcohol

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and they couldn't get along with each other

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group broke up

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too late for Malcom McLaren to get involved

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renamed his shop "SEX"

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sold not only leather clothing but fetish wear

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a further stick in the eye of the elegant shops near him

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puts together a band called the Sex Pistols

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just the name of the group is an outrageous act

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the Sex Pistols become famous for their scandalous and notorious punk behavior

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absolute disregard of authority

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became the ultimate bad boys of popular music

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Malcom McLaren gets an advance from EMI

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Sex Pistols do something outrageous

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EMI says you can keep the advance, we don't want you

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signs with A&M Records

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same thing happens, keeps the advance

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finally puts the album out with Virgin Records, after getting a third advance

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1977: Never Mind the Bullocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

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goes to #1 in the UK

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but only #106 in the US

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largely unknown in 1977

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played on a barge on the Thames while the Queen was being celebrated, got arrested, which was their intention

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1976: Anarchy in the UK

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1977: God Save the Queen

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had a relatively short career

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but everywhere they went in the UK, it seems like 4 or 5 punk bands sprung up from that performance

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but had a very lasting and foundational effect on establishing

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The Clash

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Joe Strummer

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as the Sex Pistols were nihilists, the Clash were political protesters

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1977 The Clash

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"White Riot"

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in the USA, we didn't hear much about the Clash until 1980

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1980 London Calling

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#27 in US charts

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"Train in Vain (Stand by Me)"

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by this time, the punk bad boy attitude had gone underground again

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so by this time, the Clash were thought of more as a New Wave group

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The Buzzcocks

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Pete Shelley

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1978 Another Music in a Different Kitchen

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The Jam

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Paul Weller

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looking back to Mod culture

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1977 This is the Modern World

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1978 All Mode Cons

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emergence of women

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Siouxsie and the Banshees

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Happy House

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The X-Ray Spex

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Poly Styrene

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The Slits

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all woman punk group

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Sex Pistols were influenced by punk in New York in the early 70s

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yet punk was almost unknown then in the U.S.

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but Malcolm McLaren had observed it on trips to New York

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the Clash said they learned to play guitar playing along to the Ramones records

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then punk gets big in the UK, and gets exported and popular in the U.S. as something new, although it had been going on in New York since the early 70s

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but when punk his the U.S., it didn't stay punk for very long, but got transformed into something called New Wave